So the title says it all, and then some.

I was traveling on the way to work, in rush hour traffic aprox 645 am, on route 295 north bound in new jersey.

I was going about 70-75 mph keeping inline with traffic, but with plenty of space infront and behind.

Anyway, long story short, I saw drivers ahead of me swerving, and braking, and moving from the left lane to the middle, and right lanes, so i began to start braking my self.. A few moments later everyone was out of the left lane but me, who was still looking for what it was, and then I found it. Road debris. Im still not sure if my brakes locked up and i lost control or the debris caused me to loose control (cop said thats most likly)

But I hit the wall (concrete) doing about 70mph i would say, flipped at least 1 time in the air, and 2.5-3.5 times on the ground, and finally came to a stop some 1200 feet later, on my hood upside down.

every single airbag popped, and my seat belt did its job.

The weirdest thing happened at the end.. I knew there was an accident, and I was involved.. so I wanted to unbuckle and get out of the car.. and due to disorientation i thought I was falling upwords.. which i was.. but towards the earth because i was upside down.

I walked away, with the only damage being that from glass in my fist/hand trying to crawl out.

The cop walked up and said, well I guess we need to shut down this highway and call a cornorer (as they had thought the body was ejected)... and then I said "What for.. I was the driver"

I've never herd a cop say 'no f$$king way' ... but this cop was truly shocked at the ammount of damage and me walking and talking to him...

and now the gushy part !!! PICS!!!



one last thing that saved me was a pair of wire cables that i used the rear seat bracked to attach themmm... i used them to hold my subwoofer in place.. that alone probably saved my life because that box became a projectile...

 

So.. im looking at buying another gd3 in the next few days/weeks probably a 5 speed if i can manage it too, this card saved my life. even doing crazy fast speeds in crazy fast new jersey. I also just bought a k20a longblock that I dont want to see get wasted...

 

REally sorry that happened but that's so cool. Neighbor has a big boat of a Cadillac of course my father thinks a car like that is safer. Well he just had a less sever accident of running it into the ditch and he's in hospital for internal injuries. I'll be quit happy when I can get my small car.

Funny on the cop's comment. I'd probably have been like "WTF, I'm dead?" at least for a moment. I'm easily shook up though.

 

Holy cow, dude! Glad you're ok!

I had a similar accident years ago (without flipping).

I was in my 1984 Accord traveling in the center lane of the highway doing 65mph when I realized I was right on top of my exit, and "went for it" because I was new to the area and would not have known how to get back on track as this was pre GPS and cell phones.

I ended up losing the rear and was now going 65mph backwards down the exit ramp. I hit the guard rail going backwards, then did a 360 and smashed into a tree. I was not wearing a seat belt and walked away without even a scratch.

Crazy part is the car was smashed from both sides, making it 6 feet shorter but it still ran as good as the day I bought it! Just couldn't see out the windshield due to the hood becoming an accordion.

 

WOW, that was some crash. I'm glad you walked away. I'm also pretty impressed with how the Fit held up.

So which Fit is going to be in your future?

 

I've been in talks with a local middle aged lady who wants to sell her fit, 2011 (GE i think not sure) and its black with 92k orgional miles all matience done but id love to get another gd3, or any fit.

Thanks for the good wishes as well, to you and everyone, much appreciated.

I was wearing a seatbelt as i described my upside down moment, but ive seen crashes like this on the news and even the after math as im a volunteer firefighter.. and this is almost certainly injuries if not fatalities..

The fit held up well. And if I dont sugar coat it, the speed was probably closer to 75-80.. I was doing 80 in line, then we slowed down, so I say about 70.. but 1200 feet is a LONNNNG distance to slide.

Cop said I was going about 70 in his opinion...

WILD RIDE. thats all I can say. I was vivid and clear for every moment of it... terrifying almost..

 

I'm also very glad you're OK. The car structure did work properly as designed, and the passenger compartment and structure looks more or less intact. The roof over the front passenger seat is obviously the worst intrusion; a passenger might not have been so fortunate, especially if they were tall and sitting well upright.

I suspect the policeman is correct that the debris caused your loss of control, or possibly steering more abruptly than the tires could keep up with. All US Fits have antilock brakes, so far as I know, which would pretty well prevent locking up the wheels when braking hard (and allow you to maintain steering control). Regardless, it's not all that important for the final outcome.

Traveling 1200 feet before coming to a stop helped keep you safe, by the way. It makes for a far more gradual deceleration than does smashing into something fixed head-on. That's not to suggest that you felt like you were riding on puffy clouds and down pillows, of course! (This is why crush structures are so important for car crashworthiness, too, so that your body has survivably low forces applied to it.)

 

Crazy story OP, I am glad you're ok

 

Wow, pretty intense, glad you're OK OP and good luck in your search for a replacement.

Ever since the offset crash news extravaganza people always say "OMG is that car safe, it's so small and I saw...." I just want to forward them all the threads like this that are on here.

 

Thankful you're alive and ok! Wow, crazy story! After being in two accidents within the last six months (one my fault, the other not), I know the jitters of post impact. Pretty cool to hear about the fits real world safety.

 

Walking away from that, I hope your first stop was to buy a lottery ticket- you got all of yesterday's good luck, friend.

 

So glad you survived!!! I have a 2008 Fit and I am glad to see it protected you. I lived in NJ for 20+ years so I am familiar with 295. So what was the debris? Hopefully, not just a cardboard box.

And thanks for the pics! Gives me some piece of mind.

I tell you, if I totaled my Fit I would probably get another one.

BTW, my car is the same color. I guess I can't get any good parts off yours.

And one final word, make sure you get the plates off the car. I made that mistake once...

 

wow, that's great the Fit kept you safe and the airbags and crumple zones did their jobs

 

So happy you are ok. Glad to know Fit did its job.....and sacrificed it's life for you, as a good car should.

 

On July 6th my daughter hit a Ford van head on and totaled both of them. She had 5 broken bones. Looking at your Fit pictures, yours has much more damage than her's did even though she ended up rolling her's in the process. 1200 feet of skid is a lot. That is almost 2 city blocks or slightly under 1/4 mile.

 

Crazy Man. Glad you walked away.

 

Thanks for sharing the picture of the cables for your sub. I keep some equipment in the hatch of our Fit. I'm going to get some steel cabling and attach it securely. Happy you're OK.

I just got our car insurance bill today. Our '09 Fit costs almost as much to insure as our '13 Accord. There's a story there somewhere.

Happy 2015. Much to hope for.

 

I am sure glad you came out OK after this wreck. I really think using your seat belts were a major factor in your surviving. Not sure you would have been ejected, but if you were probably would not have written report. Good thought about stuff carried in back becoming projectiles. Best wishes for a Happy New Year. Bill #22335

 

Scary stuff. The way the roof is ripped into the passenger side isn't very confidence inspiring, but at least the entire roof didn't get crushed, like it would have on most cars back before increased safety awareness and standards.

This has probably been on here before, but here's a video of a Fit rolling 7 times and the driver walking away. Probably helped that it rolled in wet grass and dirt rather than pavement. This video inspired me to get rid of my RE 11s, which were pretty worn anyway, and get more hydroplane resistant Comp 2s. It looks to me like the driver doesn't do anything blatently wrong, just brakes in a gentle curve and loses it:

 

Wow!

I lost control on my fit as well due to others in larger vehicles braking hard causing me to brake hard right before I hydroplaned....in my case I got lucky and slowed down enough that when I hit the divider, the wheel took the hit....